“I wanted to fight this horror” More and more Russian teenagers end up in prison for sabotage — Meduza

Since the start of the all-out war in Ukraine, an increasing number of Russian schoolchildren have been sent to prison for sabotage, allegedly damaging buildings or transport infrastructure. At least 20 Russians aged between 15 and 17 are currently awaiting trial or serving sentences for these crimes. Many of them come from the regions along the Trans-Siberian Railway, which Moscow uses to transport military equipment and ammunition westwards. Meduza reports in English the main points of a new report on these minors by the independent media outlet People of Baikal.

According to data compiled by Mediazona, about a third of the 66 people arrested in late 2022 and early 2023 for alleged sabotage attacks on Russian railways were minors. Penalties for this offense can range from 10 to 20 years in prison, but in cases of aggravating circumstances, the sentence can go up to life imprisonment. Usually, the details of these cases are kept secret or published, with the accused's name redacted.

Russia's Federal Financial Monitoring Service records the names of all citizens accused of terrorism, sabotage or extremism in its public register of “terrorists and extremists”. However, the appearance of a person's name in the register does not necessarily mean that he or she is in prison; it may also mean that he or she is under investigation, has been fined or has been given a suspended sentence.

The list of “extremists” currently includes 54 seventeen-year-olds, 21 sixteen-year-olds and 13 fifteen-year-olds. So far in 2024, at least 20 young people have been added to the list. The youngest member is Gleb Sinitsyn, a 14-year-old from the city of Ivanovo.

“Out of desperation”

Maksim Machnev from Ust-Ilimsk turned 18 a few weeks ago. The reason for his inclusion in the Russian list of “extremists and terrorists” is unclear. He is one of many Russian teenagers who spent their 18th birthday in prison.

Among the others is 19-year-old Ilya Podkamenny, who managed to stop a freight train in the Irkutsk region in November 2022 by wrapping copper wire around the tracks. The train driver found leaflets on the spot that read “Death to Russians, freedom for Siberia” and “Putinists will hang on trees instead of leaves, death to fascist Putin.” According to state investigators, “the train driver immediately became alert and returned to the train to get a hammer to protect himself and his assistant in case of an attack.”

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It took seven months for authorities to identify Podkamenny as the perpetrator: he left no fingerprints, there were no surveillance cameras in the area, and a police dog could not track him down by scent. Investigators found some DNA in the leaflets and the wire, but it was not enough to establish his identity. Eventually they decided to search online for the phrases on the leaflets, which led them to a Telegram channel called “Siberian Liberation Movement – Republic of Siberia.” Podkamenny was one of the channel's two administrators. Five days later, he was arrested.

Even after finding his Telegram channel, it is unclear how investigators were able to identify Podkamenny; according to him, his account was registered on an anonymous Estonian SIM card.

Podkamenny was initially placed under house arrest, but after being asked to undergo a psychiatric examination, he injured himself and was subsequently remanded in custody. He was eventually charged with preparing and organizing a terrorist attack. According to investigators, he planned to commit arson twice: first in a railway relay cabinet and then in a military recruiting office. Podkamenny had prepared incendiary devices twice at home, but his mother found both and threw them away.

In the fall of 2023, Podkamenny was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He pleaded guilty to the charges against him. In a letter to Mediazona, he said his actions were motivated by desperation and a desire to fight against the “encroaching darkness.” “I think all this madness will be over by 2025 and I will definitely be released,” he added. He said his dream was to move to Texas and make a cartoon about anthropomorphic jaguars.

The other administrator of the Siberian Liberation Movement channel, 17-year-old Oleg Berezin from the Transbaikalia region, was arrested at the same time as Podkamenny and sentenced to compulsory psychiatric treatment. There was a third defendant in the case: a 20-year-old named Danil Tomshin, who had subscribed to Berezin and Podkamenny's channel. He hanged himself before his trial.

“For a financial reward”

The list of minors convicted of sabotage also includes a 15-year-old from the Siberian region of Tyumen, whose father had fought in Ukraine. The boy lived with his mother and stepfather; the day before his arrest, his father returned to the city on vacation. According to investigators, on February 23, 2023, the teenager took a Molotov cocktail and a lighter and headed to a military registration office. However, on the way there, he was detained by FSB officers. An anonymous source claimed that the boy was offered a financial reward for the arson attack, despite the fact that he had previously expressed his opposition to the war on social media. He was initially placed under house arrest, but was later sentenced to mandatory psychiatric treatment.

In November 2023, three more minors were detained in the Tyumen region, including another 15-year-old. Investigators claim that the youths tried to set fire to three railway relay cabinets. The two older ones were taken into custody while their case was being investigated, and the youngest was sent to a juvenile detention center. “The arsonists acted on the orders of people they met through social media, who promised them a financial reward for committing illegal acts,” the Investigative Committee claimed.

In the spring of 2023, three teenagers were arrested in the Novosibirsk region: 18-year-old Kirill Veselov and two minors listed in the public records as Pavel S. and Savely R. All three were charged with arson attacks on railway relay cabinets. Investigators claim that unknown persons paid the defendants 10,000 rubles ($112) each for the attack. Around the same time, police arrested an 18-year-old from Novosibirsk named Viktor Skorobogatov for setting fire to a Su-24 fighter jet. Eventually, investigators linked the two cases and declared the four teenagers members of an organized criminal group.

In September of the same year, police in Novosibirsk arrested a 17-year-old college student on suspicion of violently damaging a relay cabinet and setting fire to another one the next day.

Five months earlier, a 16-year-old was arrested in the Kemerovo region on suspicion of setting fire to two relay boxes. And this summer, three more teenagers were arrested in the Krasnodar region for the same crime.

Also in the Krasnodar region, a 17-year-old was arrested and taken into custody after he bought materials for a homemade bomb on the Internet. When he went to pick them up, security officers were already waiting for him. Investigators suspect that the teenager was planning to set off an explosion in the city's market. When officers searched his apartment, they found several chemicals and smoke grenades.

Only two months ago, two teenagers in the Krasnoyarsk region were convicted of planning to set fire to a relay cabinet. They were sentenced to four and five and a half years in youth prison, respectively. One of them had previously set fire to a cabinet.